Objective: To provide economic and welfare information necessary to
determine if a compromised pig should be euthanized or provided continued care.

Methods: We assigned batches of pigs to protocols that required many,
some, or few compromised pigs to be euthanized upon entering the nursery (aggressive,
moderate, or conservative euthanasia protocols, respectively). Compromised
pigs not immediately euthanized were ear-tagged and monitored and costs were
recorded. Welfare status was assessed daily (higher score indicating worse
welfare) and pigs were euthanized as warranted. Compromised pigs were assigned
an economic value based on their weight minus costs.

Results: A total of 51,041 nursery-age pigs in 47 batches were screened
upon entering five farms (herds). The mean value ($US) for pigs by herd ranged
from $10.81 to $48.99 for the conservative euthanasia protocol and from $0
to $46.66 for the aggressive protocol. The mean adverse welfare score for pigs
by herd ranged from 73.51 to 112.86 for the conservative protocol and from
0 to 59.68 for the aggressive protocol.

Implications: Under the conservative euthanasia protocol and the conditions
of this study, pigs that are weak, lame, have prolapses, or have two or more
concurrent conditions have a low value and high adverse welfare score. Herd
welfare can be improved at least cost by immediately euthanizing most of these
pigs.